From: Marc Richard
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 9:53 AM
Cc: Marc Richard
Subject: Senate Meeting Report, 2007-09-19

Colleagues,

The following is a brief summary of the Senate meeting which took place on Wednesday, September 19, 2007.

Dean of Engineering Christophe Pierre presented a resolution on the death of Professor Ralph Harris. Mrs. Sally McDougall, of the Board of Governors, presented a resolution on the death of Governor Emeritus James Gordon Wright.

Senate received the report of the Senate Steering Committee ( Meetings of the Committee, which last year were held on the Wednesday prior to every Senate meeting, will now be held on Tuesday of the week prior to Senate. The new deadline for Senate Steering to receive documents will be Friday of the week prior its meetings. Questions will be accepted for review by Senate Steering at any time prior to 3 p.m. on the Monday before a Steering meeting, but the Committee reserves the right to recommend the deferral of a question to another Senate meeting.

The Secretary-General announced the results of the elections to the Senate Steering Committee, to which John Hobbins has been elected, and to the Board of Governors. No results were announced for the elections to the Senate Nominating Committee, since the number of candidates was smaller than the number of vacancies; the matter is being reviewed by the Secretary-General.

In her remarks from the Chair, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum welcomed McGill's new V.P. Administration and Finance François R. Roy. As was announced in the Principal's memo of September 14 to the Board and Senate, V.P. Development, Alumni and University Relations Ann Dowsett Johnston is leaving the University and will be returning to Toronto for personal reasons; Marc Weinstein, Assistant V.P. (DAUR), is now leading the DAUR portfolio. Dean of Education Roger Slee is leaving the University to take up a position at University of London; Professor Jamshid Beheshti of the School of Information Studies is now serving as Interim Dean.

The Principal noted that McGill is celebrating two 150th anniversaries this year: those of the Faculty of Education and of the McGill Alumni Association. The Administration's response to the report of the Principal's Task Force on Student Life and Learning is scheduled for presentation to Senate in November. The McGill University Health Centre being built at the Glen Yards will be rolled out in phases, with final completion slated for 2013.

In the period for questions, Senator Bailey inquired about plans by Ancillary Services to close the Architecture Café and about whether the Administration is pursuing a policy of centralizing food services. Associate V.P. University Services Jim Nicell answered that the space occupied by the Café belongs to the School of Architecture and that decisions on the use of this space are the purview of the School. The Administration has been pursuing a policy of rationalizing and coordinating food services on campus, but this does not imply the use of a single contractor; structured consultations on this issue will be undertaken. The policy of rationalizing and coordinating food services is being pursued not specifically for health code reasons but rather because of the larger issue of ensuring that all applicable laws and codes -- such as those related to taxation and labour -- are respected whenever money changes hands on McGill property. No student-based food services are supposed to exist on campus, except within the context of a Memorandum of Understanding. The only student-based food services currently allowed under these arrangements are those operated by SSMU, PGSS and MCSS.

Senate received a report on the Joint Board-Senate Committee Meeting which will take place on October 30, 2007. A web site ( has been set up to prepare the discussions which will be held at this meeting, which aims to establish principles that would define McGill as a sustainable institution.

Senate approved various items contained in the 392nd Report of the Academic Policy Committee ( and discussed the proposed policy on official end-of-term course evaluations (Appendix K of the APC report). Many of the comments dealt with the problems caused by the low response rate of the current evaluation system: students appear reluctant to take the time to fill out evaluations because they have no assurance that professors will elect to make the results available, and professors appear reluctant to make the results available unless the response rate is sufficiently high to generate a representative sample of opinion. The target date for the proposed policy to return to Senate for approval is the end of the fall semester, to allow the policy to be in place by the start of the winter semester. Comments on the draft policy should be conveyed as soon as possible to Professor Cynthia Weston, Director of Teaching and Learning Services.

The Principal presented highlights of her September 2007 report to the McGill community ( This report, as well as the Principal's covering memo soliciting input from Senators ( was then discussed in a Committee of the Whole. As part of the discussion, the Provost indicated that McGill's focus is on educating students rather than on training them, particularly at the undergraduate level; even in the professional programs, the emphasis is on educating students to make them trainable rather than on training them ourselves. In response to a question by Senator Tallant, the Provost also described the new "Faculty Matters" interactive forum initiative, which aims to bring together all deans, directors, chairs and vice-principals twice a year to discuss issues and share their experiences as academic administrators. In response to a question by Senator Hobbins on the subject of deferred maintenance, the Principal agreed that this was a huge problem. It is planned that funding for any new construction on campus will include a maintenance component. Ultimately, however, federal and provincial government support will be needed to look after McGill's large number of older buildings; McGill will be making that case to the government. Small amounts from the University budget have been set aside for the more serious of these issues.

Discussion of the proposed Regulations Concerning the Investigation of Research Misconduct ( was postponed until the next meeting of Senate.

Senate received the Report of the Board of Governors to Senate ( Senators Hobbins and Robaire noted that the Safe Disclosure (“Whistleblowing”) Policy, approved by Senate May 23, 2007, was withdrawn from the Board’s June 5, 2007 agenda pending further review by a consultant familiar with the development of such policies in the public sector. They inquired as to whether this external review of a Senate decision was an exceptional case. Senator Roulet, representative of Senate on the Board, answered that it is not expected to be the usual practice. The Principal added that the Board takes the work of Senate seriously, but that it has different responsibilities; in view of concerns over liability, the Board felt that consultation was needed in this particular case. The Secretary-General indicated that this consultation is not expected to delay matters significantly, and that she will be meeting with Associate Provost Policies and Procedures William Foster to discuss the next step.

Minutes of Senate meetings from 1998 onward are available at the following URL, with minutes of current Senate meetings being posted shortly after their approval at the next Senate meeting:

Agendas for Senate meetings from 1998 onward are available at the following URL, with the agenda of upcoming meetings being posted a few days beforehand, i.e. sometime after the meeting of the Senate Steering Committee held the previous Tuesday:

Documentation for Senate meetings (excluding confidential documentation) from November 15, 2006 onward is available at the following URL, with the documentation for upcoming meetings being posted a few days beforehand, i.e. sometime after the meeting of the Senate Steering Committee held the previous Tuesday:

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us. The next Senate meeting will be held on October 10, 2007.

Regards,

Your Library Senate Reps,

Jim Henderson

John Hobbins

Marc Richard